F. Raveneau Blanchot 2022 Grand Cru

The 2022 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot is especially attractive this year, wafting from the glass with aromas of pear, clear honey, orange zest and white flowers, framed by a deft touch of youthful reduction. Full-bodied, satiny and elegant, it’s suave and layered, with racy acids and a long, mineral finish. On my most recent visit to the domaine, Isabelle Raveneau presented the young wines from barrel, along with a selection of the just-bottled 2021s. She compares the 2022 vintage with 2020; and in the wines’ purity of fruit and ability to remain fresh and ethereal in so warm a year, 2022 is indeed strongly reminiscent of a somewhat fleshier 2020. The young 2021s couldn’t offer more of a contrast: chiseled and incisive, with a touch of aromatic exotica in the generic Chablis bottling; but they are far from austere, and much like the domaine’s 2016s, I suspect they will be quite approachable young despite their more old-school profile. Readers looking for more information on the history and approach of Domaine Raveneau are directed to my article in the End of March 2019 issue of The Wine Advocate.

Drink: now-2045